Recipes, menus and everything to do with my not so new kitchen

Bacon Jam. Yes indeed, you read that correctly.

We’re knee-deep in that frenzied holiday season when there are parties, unscheduled drop-ins and quick festive glasses of vino. I never like to drink on an empty stomach so I like to stock the freezer with hors d’œuvres that can be made up in bulk and pulled out in a pinch. One of my favourites is the Devil on Horseback or bacon wrapped dates that I first came across from a Tapa’s cookbook from a friend about 8 years ago and finally blogged about it here. I needed to stock up so when I recently saw naturally smoked bacon (low sodium) on sale at my grocer, I asked JT to pick me up a couple of packs so I had them in the fridge ready to be made into the little devils. Fast forward to my second food styling assisting job, I assisted for a breakfast sandwich and there was a lot of bacon. Probably close to a hundred pounds? OK, I may be exaggerating but there was a lot of bacon left over and I was kindly given some of it! So now I needed to figure out what to do with so much bacon and then it hit me, I knew exactly what that was!

I first came across Bacon Jam at Lorraine’s lovely blog Not Quite Nigella in 2009 and it’s been sitting in my data bank since. I usually don’t have an excess of bacon lying around so the bacon I was given from the job was very welcomed indeed. JT was ecstatic, like most men, he adores bacon. So I made bacon jam. I didn’t have everything Lorraine’s recipe required plus I needed something that I could leave all day to cook on its own, so I found good old Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker Bacon Jam.

Cooking down the bacon; the aromas enticed dogs and neighbourhood men to walk in zombie-like fashion towards the house!

There was an overwhelming aroma of bacon for days.

Thick, sweet and salty all at once. Who knew bacon could taste THAT good?

There are a few precautions one must take with bacon jam. Contrary to what you would think, it is highly susceptible to salmonella which is a very dangerous bacteria. You may have heard that this past summer our Canadian National Exhibition’s Cronut Burger (poor refrigeration) lead to the contamination by Staphylococcus aureus toxin poisoning of their bacon jam! Go figure. You would think that with ALL the preservatives in bacon it wouldn’t be an issue, but it was. In further reading it seems that garlic increases this issue even more. So, my words of caution is that you MUST refrigerate your bacon jam and not even keep it in a processed jar outside of refrigeration. I even went a step further and froze any extra I wasn’t able to eat in a short time frame.

Bacon Jam

Makes 4 small jars

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces

2 medium yellow onions, diced small

3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled

1/2 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

3/4 cup brewed coffee

Directions:

Cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Reserve 1 tablespoon of fat from the bacon skillet, discard the remainder.

Add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.

Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Allow to cool slightly then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks (see caveat above).

I may have gotten carried away with the photos. But is it Bacon dog gamn it!

Last one, promise.

The jam is slightly sweet, tangy and a perfect accompaniment to cheese or pâté. Add it to your charcuterie platter for New Year’s Eve celebrations. I might have even added it to scrambled eggs once or even a sandwich. Be creative. Where would you add such a decadent jam?

I pinned a recipe for bacon jam some time ago but never found time to make it. I think I’ll ditch that recipe in favor of this one, Eva. After all, this one comes recommended by a professional foodie. Who am I to quibble? :)

Thanks the post and advice Eva. I’ve wanted to try this stuff for ages but couldn’t make my mind up. Yours looks delicious but I think I’ll just buy a jar to begin with, especially with the possible storage problems.

Eva, you are so prolific… You make me feel so ashamed for my laziness. It’s amazing to see you make bacon jam. It’s been on my to do list for years. The recipe I had bookmarked is slightly different at the beginning, but the result is rom what I see and read, similarly delicious. Thank you so much for reminding me I MUST prepare this delicacy.

Thank you so much again, Sissi. I would not call you lazy at all, please don’t be so hard on yourself, you run a beautiful blog filled with tempting and delicious exotic recipes and your photography is simply beautiful. The bacon jam is indeed a decadent condiment.

Hi Charlie, we did indeed have a lovely new year and now it’s back to reality! Hope you had a lovely time too and are keeping cool in your blistery hot days. We are quite the opposite with -41C wind chill temperatures!

Oh my word Eva!!!! This is insanely good looking!!!! We always make our maple bacon biscuits for the holidays now and this would be another great addition!!! Perhaps a valentine’s surprise for Mike. Delicious!!!

I never really bought into the whole bacon obsession I have to say. I mean – sure – it’s “nice”, but people seem to go crazy for it. Bacon jam? I guess I’d definitely like to try it. I like your description… sweet, thick and salty all at the same time… that does sound rather enticing. My only problem is that the bacon I’ve thus tried in Sweden is absolutely revolting. Way too much obnoxious “fake” smoke flavour, as opposed to the glorious stuff in England which is often maple smoked or something like this :(.

I know what you mean Charles, I like bacon well enough but this craze is something else. The jam is definitely delicious but could be easily ruined by a fake maple or fake smoke flavour. Personally I am not fond of the maple smoked bacon.

I think it’s fantastic, as long as it’s actual “real” maple which is used. Sweden hasn’t quite grasped that fake smoke flavour is disgusting. Apparently older people here buy something called “sidfläsk” which is a slightly different cut, but basically uncured, untreated bacon, slightly thicker too, so hopefully I’ll be able to get my fix if I can find it! :D